How To Help The Child Who Stutters

Some suggestions for parents and teachers
The following suggestions are for the guidance of parents and teachers who have under their care children who repeat sounds in speaking or who hesitate or stall in trying to get words out:-

What to do?

1. Keep the child in as good physical condition as possible.

2. Be particularly careful to see that he gets plenty of rest and does not become too fatigued after playing or working.

3. Avoid letting the child get too excited or over-stimulated. Avoid emotional scenes.

4. Keep the child out of situations where he has to compete in speech with other children, even with children of the same family.

5. Give the child a felling that he is loved and appreciated by those around him.

6. Encourage the child to talk freely and often about his interests and experiences. Show an interest in what he tells you.

7. Always maintain a calm, quite, relaxed attitude yourself, while listening or talking to the child. He will then feel more relaxed also and have less tendency to block in speech.

8. Give the child the feeling that he can have plenty of time to finish what he wants to say without hurrying. Be patient.

9. Speak slowly and quitely yourself.

10. Avoid any direct reference to the child's speech difficulty unless he asks you about it himself. The less a child is aware of having anything wrong with his speech the better are his chances of acquiring fluent speech. This is especially the case with very young child.

11. Arrange situations at home and at schools so that the child will frequently meet with success when he has tried to do his best. Success and praise will help to build up much needed self-confidence.

12. Develop the child's abilities and talents. This will help him to gain confidence in himself and win the respect of his associates.

13. If oral recitation in school seems hard for the child because of his speech difficulty, he should be told privately by his teacher that he will not be called on.He will thus know what to expect and be less anxious. At the same time the teacher should encourage him to volunteer as often as he can and quitely give approval to these attempts. When he does recite he should be listened to patiently and not made to feel that he is in any way different from the other children.

What not to do?

1. Never make fun of the child or mimic his speech. Do not allow others to do it also. Much can be done by a teacher to reduce ridicule by class-mates.

2. Do not show impatience, annoyance, embarrassment or worry at the child's slowness or difficulty in speaking.

3. Do not finish the child's remarks for him or supply words, even when you are sure of what he is going to say. This only increases his feelings of inferiority.

4. Do not tell him to talk slowly, to stop and think before he speaks, to take a deep breath, to keep calm etc. This procedure more than any other turns a fairly "happy stutterer into a laboured spasm type which tends to "stick".

5. Do not ask him to stop talking or to repeat his remarks when he has had difficulty.

6. Do not under any condition blame, punish or shame the child for speaking poorly. He is unable to help it and criticism will only make it worse.

7. Do not force the child to speak in front of people especially strangers, unless he himself wishes to.

8. Never discuss the child's speech difficulty in his presence unless he asks you about it.

9. Do not force a left-handed child to use his right hand.

10. Do not be too exacting or strict in what you expect the child to accomplish. On the other hand, do not baby him.

11.Do not tell a child to relax. He tenses himself in the effort.

12. Do not encourage procedures such as clasping hands, stamping feet etc.,or before long these will be an indispensable part of speech.

You will render most effective aid by studying these suggestions closely and by applying them carefully.